Search

Dick Eastman has pointed out that the National Health Service Information Centre have issued guidelines for accessing the information gathered as a result of The National Registration Act 1939.

I don’t think that it will be worth me accessing any of the data, certainly not worth £42 of my money (that’s equivalent to six GRO certificates). I have been mentally going through my research, wondering if anything that would be revealed by an information request that would actually benefit my research, but I can’t think of one case where it would.

I think it all boils down to how I value the information in my family history research and how it would benefit my research. It would be lovely to have the time and money to find out everything about all my relations, but I have to prioritize where my resources are directed.

So before forking out money for a record or spending time searching I perform a simple cost-benefit analysis. Will it actually solve a problem or progress my research? or would the money/time be better spent elsewhere?

I am sure I could pursue all sorts of additional information about my ancestors, from all sorts of sources, and in some cases I do if I am trying to create a biography of an individual, but there needs to be a limit.

It is not just about money, but also time. I know that if I was to take the time to search through decades of local newspapers I could find some really interesting information, as well as lots of background material. That would take hours of my time and unless there is some specific goal to be achieved, it is just not worth it.

I am sure the information will become more readily (and cheaply) available in due course, as more and more organisations realise the value of their data and the likes of Ancestry and Findmypast become ever more eager to digitize it.

So, I for one won’t be wasting my money on this information, but I am sure that there will be some people who may find answers to some of their brick walls within the data, so good luck to them.